Mistinguett (Jeanne Bourgeois)

Daughter of a day-laborer, she began singing in suburban cafes before debuting at the Casino de Paris in 1895. In 1911, paired with her young protégé Maurice Chevalier at the Folies Bergère, she created the sensationally acrobatic 'Valse chaloupée'.

Mistinguett became the highest-paid female entertainer on earth, famed for colossal feather headdresses, wicked Parisian argot, and magnetic charm. In 1920, she introduced Mon Homme, an international triumph covered by Billie Holiday and Barbra Streisand. In World War I, she served as a volunteer intelligence courier for the French Red Cross.